The Oakland Raiders have a bunch of issues heading into next season, but their starting quarterback is definitely not one of them.
Heading into the 2019 NFL season, the Oakland Raiders should have a completely different look to them. Not only do they hold six of the first 100 picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, but have 33 pending free agents, so the roster is going to see a lot of change.
This offseason, the team went out and brought in draft analyst Mike Mayock to be their general manager, and he has hit the ground running in his new role. He has been everywhere, from the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, to the Senior Bowl, as he tries to capitalize on all the draft capital he has in April.
Speaking at the Senior Bowl, Mayock went into a bunch of topics, including the financial flexibility the team has, as well as his quarterback. Derek Carr has come under fire from plenty of outside sources, but he appears to have the backing of his new general manager after Mayock’s first month on the job.
Matt Schneidman, a beat writer for Bay Area News Group tweeted this out on Thursday.
Raiders GM Mike Mayock sitting down with us now: “Derek Carr, at this point, is the least of our problems ... there aren’t 32 starting quarterbacks in this league. We have one of them.” pic.twitter.com/o9v9bRIT30
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) January 24, 2019
That is certainly good news for Carr, but it is also good news for the organization, as Mayock is an expert evaluator of talent. It does not take a genius to see that the quarterback position is thin in the NFL, and while young, college quarterbacks look like a sexy pick heading into the draft, the Raiders have a proven leader in Carr.
In his first season in Jon Gruden’s offense in 2018, Carr had his best statistical year, and really did not throw an interception for ten straight games. That is a tremendous accomplishment, and if the Raiders can actually go out and put some talent around him this offseason, he is the kind of quarterback who could throw for 5,000 yards.